Lewiss

[sorgan]

hey lewis i noticed a while back that your tank had quite a few azoox corals and sponges such as the blueberry gorg (sorry to say that it looked mostly dead), dendronephthya and a white menella to name a few but how are they doing??? come on buddy spill the beans

 

[lewiss]

Hi,
haha i was confused seeing my name there!!

Sadly I threw the blue gorg away yesterday, just got worse and worse, lossing buds until it was just a twig. The dendronephthya was sold to me as a prickly pussy coral, and until recently I believed that! Then realised that it was a dendronephthya. But it's doing really well! At first I had trouble with it and it was shrinking, getting big then shrinking again. Now it's stopped that and appears happy, does it a little still but mainly it's up right and looking glorious. I'll post some pictures tomorrow when the lights are on!

All the sponges are doing really well, sold my orange fan to a friend as it started to deteriorate and I thought I might have too many azoox corals but it's doing well in his tank and the damage it got in my tank is now fully repaired, which is good.

Ermm not sure what a White manella is?? Sorry! is it the White sea fan (angel harp)? If so that's doing well too, again will post photo's tomorrow if you like?

Any others you can think of that you saw?

 

[sorgan]

good to sea they are going well, what are you feeding and how long have you had them all? I only ask as azoox are a bit of an enigma so any new methods are always well received.

Ps if your 'pussy coral' starts to drop spines then you know your up poop creek.

 

[-Nemo-]

Haha We should start up a azoox club... I love my azoox section in my tank

 

[sorgan]

We should nemo!!! I have gone totally over to the darkside now and run only dedicated azoox tanks but there is so much more to learn!!!

 

[lewiss]

Ok now I'm confused!! Is it a prickly pussey coral (Latin name Dendronephthya) or a colt coral (latin name: Dendronephthya) or both!! I was corrected on another forum saying it wasnt a pussey coral but a colt coral Latin name Dendronephthya?? Confused.com.

In terms of feeding I put a squirt (no better quantity!!) in every couple of days of phytoplankton (nannochloropsis - tetraselmis) which I buy off eBay, and Roti Feast (shellfish mix) supplied by my mate for FREE!! he makes it himself. I only put this in every couple of weeks.

Had the Dendronephthya about 6 months, the sea fans only 3/4 months. Still learning!!

 

[lewiss]

As promised!
Red gorg

White Angel Harp Gorg

Prickly Pussy Coral

Orange Spider Sponge

Orange sea fan (gorg)

Best I can do with a crap iPhone camera!!

All taken at feeding time when they open their polyps! Some more so than others!!

 

[sorgan]

Lewiss all those corals (and sponges) need more then one feed a day to stay tip top this is more than true for any of them with White polyps.
The first (Diodogorgia Nodulifera) will want more than one daily feed aswell.
The pussy Coral isn't a pussy coral IMO but rather pink dendronephthya, it has small spines that are used as an exterior skeleton and has polyps for feeding, I don't believe pussy corals have either (but a may be wrong )
The orange sea fan I think is some species on menella but I am not certain, cab you get a good pic of one of it's polyps?

Also look into getting some other small foods such as lobster eggs, oyster eggs etc

BTW I love that spider sponge and intend to ninja into your house and steal it

 

[lewiss]

Sorry i havent been 100% clear on food wise, was typing in a rush. I also feed dried copepods, rofters, oyster eggs, lobster eggs, marine snow (don't think they eat that but not 100%), cyclops (i think thats it) about 3x per day (not all of them obviously!! lol)Wait this isn't making sense!! They have a random 3 of the above mentioned per day - Sorry long day at work! welll... kinda, i normally do 12 hour shifts but doing 8 now so not really long but you get my drift~!!!

The orange sea fan has miniscule polyps and my camera is no where near good enough to zoom in enough. I must say they are all doing well but the orange sea fan rarely opens its polyps out, prob once a couple of times a day when i normally feed them. It's funny they seem to know when i feed them and are opened ready to eat!

Anywhoo... I digress. Well I'm utterly confused with the pink dendro - i just looked up pussey coral in my book 'what inverts' and it did have a prickly pussy coral with the latin name dendro - HOWEVER it was seperate from the normal pussey coral. I'm just confused, i've always called it prickly pussey coral until being told recentlu it was CONFUSED either way!!

Thanks for the compliments re the spider! I've had that about 7 months and its got bigger and bigger!! I actually fragged a couple of braunchs last month for my mum and dads and a mate.

Sorry to waffle! as usual!!

 

[sorgan]

FRAGS!!!! Me me me

If a gorg isn't open it isn't feeding, they usually close because they either

Have no food (this doesn't mean there isn't food just not the right stuff)
Are photosensitive (some only usually open at night)
Have light algae growth on them.

This

Is how a healthy menella looks, polyps highly extended and with loads on show.
This

Is also a menella but one that is being nursed back to health, not all of it extends so I know it's not at top condition (excuse the nem under it, it is not happy with me and I am having great trouble trying to sort it out lol)

Your NPS are all spot on (well once they have a proper I'D ) but to keep them that way is the challenge. Don't you love the dark side.

 

[sorgan]

Oh these are the same 2 a few weeks after those pics where taken

The second obviously looks much better

 

[lewiss]

well realisticly its only the orange sea fan (manella) that wont open constantly. I've tried all the foods i can think of in there? It opens up in different parts each day - really wierd..

All the others are open almost all the time. I dont really look in at night, and if i do i watch my peppermint shrimp swimming at the top!!

Wow your tank looks wicked! How do you find caring for that gonipora? I've read its really hard to keep ( i assume its gonipora! )

ALSO, i had a red manella like yours withy white polyps and it died, and i never knew what it was cos it was! That was when i first bought my tank. Makes tons of sense now!!

and what anemone is that - looks cool!!

I gotta say the dark side is one of the biggest challenges yet! BUT i must say - my favourites are nearly all NPS!! So what do i need to do with this orange one, and the rest. Is my feeding ok, or do i need to do more?

 

[sorgan]

I would say get some strong flow over it, all my gorgs are in the strongest flow possible, after a bit it should open more to feed. If the amount you are feeding now then keeps it open stick with it, if not we can look into it.

The goni is the hardest coral I have ever looked after! It seems fine for months and even grows but then just seems to die off. This one is doing ok ATM but for how long I don't know, in my opinion they need a good feed every bow and again to stay healthy but I could be very wrong

If you ever feel like fragging that sponge again let me know I will farg a fee chillis for you from my collection (I have 3 varieties now and think a forth is on the way)

 

[lewiss]

It grows really fast actually, would be happy to send you a frag. I have two new shoots of it which are about 1cm long, but when they grow more substantial i'll send you some for sure!! I would send some now but i dont want to make it any smaller!! When a new bit grows your #1 on my list.

The orange one is literally got a powerhead facing it but nothing!! I've tried it in loads of different positions. Thanks for the advice Sorgan - i'll be back when it all goes pete tong!

 

[sorgan]

Ahhhh right try this, move the powerhead so the flow is deflected by a rock or something onto the gorg, they like string but turbulent flow, I keep forgetting that my yelliw menella has a randomised powerhead pointing at it and my White is at the meeting point is many flows.

Failing that it may have a light algae coating, a 1 minute soak in RO water at an equal temp to your tank can help as will picking it up in the water and giving it a shake (that's my favourite method)